Can't the NFL convince* John Madden to come out of retirement for Thanksgiving games?

And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.  - James Earl Jones, Field of Dreams (1989)

I've always wondered why the NFL hasn't been able to get John Madden to broadcast a Thanksgiving Day Game since his retirement 10 years ago. With the Turducken award and Holiday repartee it would bring back the nostalgia of those days when as Madden says, "it doesn't get any better than this". Perhaps, there have been quiet efforts by the NFL or TV Networks to coax John Madden to announce the Dallas or Detroit game on Thanksgiving and we don't know about them but, I've never heard any rumors.

After his successful coaching career with the Oakland Raiders, Madden was for 30 years the best color commentator in Football. Growing up and listening to Madden and Pat Summeral announce games throughout the 80's and 90's with a drink and a whap and a boom and his love of Brett Favre's moxie, Barry Sanders' ellusiveness, or Nate Newton's pancakes were almost as big a draw for the games as the action on the field itself.

But, like most things, perhaps it's the old MacArthur line about Old Soldiers fading away. Madden is after all 83 and has been retired since 2009 and only a smattering of players are still playing in the league when he last announced a game. And, most likely, Madden simply no longer wants to announce a game. But, no matter how long it's been Madden knows football and it would be something on Thanksgiving to hear Madden's sound effects and see his telestrator pen light up a game.

*- perhaps convince is the wrong word and the title should be; Can't the NFL give John Madden what ever he would want/need to come out of retirement for a Thanksgiving game?

Republican hatred extends all the way to attacking President Obama's Children

Joe Walsh's former Press Secretary Elizabeth Lauten went after Sasha and Malia Obama for their appearance during the White House Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony. Lauten posted a typical right-wing Facebook screed in which she demanded the girls "show a little class" and stop dressing for "a spot at the bar".

Lauten served as press secretary to former 8th District U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh from January to August 2011.

Joe Walsh is famous for chastising American Jews for not being pro-Israel enough and taking credit for electing President Obama, "it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this."

While Walsh outed himself this past June when he took to his Right-Wing Hate Speech Radio Show to shout Ni-[clang] Ni-[Clang] Ni-[Clang] Lauten jumped congressional ship, after Walsh's 2012 defeat, to become a staffer for Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee.

Lauten is, predictably, a typical Right-Wing grifter. Because Republicans don't do real work they jump from cushy Government position to cushy Government position. Congressman Fincher has personally received over $3.5 million in Welfare in Government Farming Subsidies.

Lauten's original post then segued into the obligatory everything is President Obama's Fault!!!

"Then again your mother and father don't respect their positions that much, or the nation for that matter."

Everyday, whether it be the State of the Union, a Rose Garden Address or Thanksgiving, is a day to assault President Obama and blame him for all the problems caused by the seditious Republicans, who place Party over Principle and are wholly owned by the 1%.

It's a brilliant ploy. By throwing a petulant fit and inventing all manner of faux scandals; Umbrella-Gate, Marine Corps Hat Gate, Latte-Salute Gate, Dijon Mustard Gate, and then actively working to subvert the Nation and ensure Government doesn't represent or help everyday Americans they know enough Americans will relent and allow them to regain control of the Presidency as they did when W(orst President Ever) was appointed in the stolen 2000 election.